THE Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has given the 11 Distribution Companies (DisCos) till April 11 to refund customers wrongly billed at the new rate.

The instruction was contained in a statement on Saturday, April 6, by the commission deputy general manager (DGM), Market Competition and Rates, Abba Terab.

NERC said the refund should be through energy tokens no later than April 11, and the DisCos should file evidence of compliance with the Commission by April 12.

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It also directed all the DisCos to provide all affected customers with as much clarity as possible.

It said, “All DisCos shall ensure that only the newly approved Band A feeders listed in their April 2024 supplementary orders are maintained as Band A for the purpose of vending to prepaid customers and billing for post-paid customers on their networks.

“All DisCos are required to immediately post on their websites the schedule of approved Band A feeders that have been affected by the rate review.”

It further directed all DisCos to set up a portal on their websites by April 10, 2024, that allows customers to check their current Bands by entering their meter or account numbers.

“All customers wrongly billed at the new rate should be refunded through energy tokens no later than Thursday, April 11 2024, and file evidence of compliance with the Commission by April 12 2024.

“The Commission shall monitor compliance with the requirements listed above and shall continue to provide support to all stakeholders as required,” NERC added.

The ICIR reported that NERC had approved a tariff hike for Band A customers, who enjoy up to 20 hours of power supply.

The new rate hikes, mainly for customers in the industrial, highbrow estates, and residence areas, elicited reactions from electricity consumers and stakeholders.

The ICIR also reported that the Abuja DisCos (AEDC) had apologised to its customers for wrongful billing.